Composting Sanitation Systems

Composting Sanitation Systems

• Composting sanitation systems, also known as ecological sanitation systems or "Eco-San," are emerging models of human sanitation that use human waste as fertilizer. Eco-San builds on the age-old agricultural model of using animal waste products as fertilizer.

Types of Composting Toilets

• Composting toilets are the heart of Eco-San systems. Composting toilets can be multi-thousand-dollar bathroom units or cheap plastic drums built into an outhouse structure. Composting toilets are either flushing or non-flushing. Flushing units remove waste to sealed storage containers. These units involve water flow and are tightly regulated to ensure that ground water is not polluted. Non-flushing units use basic outhouse construction, retaining waste in the same container as the initial deposit and using vermi-composting or similar practices to break down waste. These units use no outside water source and are usually lower-tech and less expensive but just as effective.

Gray Water Systems

• Some composting sanitation systems involve a gray water processing system that allows immediate use of cleaned gray water to irrigate gardens. Most states strictly regulate such systems to ensure that no waste products find their way into ground water. Gray water systems can be costly (upwards of $3,000 as of spring 2011) and difficult to install, but they can cut down on the costs of fertilizing and watering a lawn or garden.